4 ISSUES TO PONDER
Nov. ballot proposals cover environmental and equity bids
New Yorkers at the ballot box this fall will approve or reject the state’s first environmental bond act in a quarter-century, and weigh city proposals that would create a racial equity office and recalculate the cost of living.
The proposals, plus a symbolic measure to cement a New York City statement of values, make up the slate of local ballot initiatives for the Nov. 8 general election.
Ballot measures tend to get less attention than candidates, and New York will not have the sort of flashy referendums this fall that have occasionally landed before voters. (In 2019, city voters resoundingly approved a measure to move local elections to a ranked-choice format.)
But any frequent voter knows the feeling of settling in at their polling station, looking over their ballot and realizing they do not have a clue how to vote on the ballot proposals.
So here is a look at the four fall ballot initiatives around the corner, for early studying.
Environmental Bond Act
This statewide ballot measure would greenlight $4.2 billion in state borrowing for environmentally friendly projects across the state. New York has never enacted an environmental bond act so large.
The New Yorkers for Clean Water & Jobs coalition has said the measure would pump $1.5 billion toward climate change mitigation, $1.1 billion toward flood-risk fixes and hundreds of millions more toward stormwater projects.
Voters supported the new measure by a 55%-to-26% margin in a recent statewide Siena College survey. Democrats overwhelmingly support it, and Republicans largely oppose it, according to the poll.
Former Gov. George Pataki, an environment-focused Republican, championed the last similar bond act, which passed in 1996. That measure, opposed by fiscal hawks, authorized about $1.8 billion in spending.
Just and Equitable City for All Amendment
This modest municipal ballot initiative would add a new statement in the New York City Charter declaring the city’s aspiration to serve as “a just and equitable city for all” and to reconsider the city’s “foundations, structures, institutions, and laws to promote justice and equity for all New Yorkers.”
The city’s Racial Justice Commission, created last year as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term drew to a close, floated the proposal along with the other two initiatives set to land on city ballots this fall.
In May, Mayor Adams pledged a $5 million investment in the commission’s efforts to educate New Yorkers about the ballot proposals.
Racial Equity Office and Commission
This proposal from the Racial Justice Commission would create an Office of Racial Equity under City Hall tasked with working with city agencies to pursue department-specific racial equity plans every two years.
The measure would also establish a Commission on Racial Equity filled by appointees of elected officials.
‘True Cost of Living’ Measure
The commission also hopes to create a new process for the city to calculate the soaring cost of living, and this initiative would launch the new calculations starting in 2024.
The measure calls for the government to calculate the cost of living without considering public or private assistance New Yorkers receive — a bid to get a better look at the city’s racial wealth gap.
The chair of the Racial Justice Commission, Jennifer Jones Austin, said the three city proposals provide an opportunity for the city to “lead the nation” in combating structural racism.
“I’m not telling people how to vote,” she said. “But I’m telling people that we do have an opportunity here to address persistent inequity.”